Hilary Fannin facts for kids

Hilary Fannin (born 1962) is an Irish writer, playwright, and actress. She is well-known for her award-winning weekly column, Fiftysomething, in the Irish Times. Hilary was a founding member of Wet Paint Theatre and worked as an actress for many years. She has written several plays, including Mackerel Sky and Doldrum Bay. Her radio dramas have been broadcast by the BBC. She has also published a memoir called Hopscotch and a novel titled The Weight of Love.

About Hilary Fannin

Hilary Fannin was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1962. She was the youngest of four children. Her parents were both artists. Her mother, Marie, became a respected drama teacher. Her father, Robert (Bob) Fannin, was a cartoonist whose drawings appeared in various publications.

Hilary's childhood home life was sometimes challenging. She remembers a time when her family had to move, and she had to leave her primary school. During this period, she found comfort and inspiration in imaginative play. She would cut out paper dolls from her mother's catalogues and create detailed stories for them. This creative play was very important for her development as a writer.

Education and Learning

Hilary attended Santa Sabina Dominican Convent in Sutton. She left school in 1979. At that time, going to college was not an easy option for her family.

However, Hilary later returned to her studies. In 2018, she earned a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree in Creative Writing from the Oscar Wilde Centre at Trinity College Dublin. Since then, she has helped create and guide a playwriting program for teenagers. This program is a joint effort with Fighting Words and the Abbey Theatre.

Her Acting Career

Hilary was a founding member of Wet Paint Theatre, a company based in Dublin that operated from 1984 to 1991. This theatre group aimed to help young people get involved in the arts. Actors in the company, including Owen Roe and Gina Moxley, often received funding through government programs.

In the 1990s, Hilary also appeared in television shows. In 1993, she had a small role in the comedy series Extra! Extra! Read all About It!. Two years later, she played Pamela Moriarty in the series Upwardly Mobile. These acting roles helped her financially, which allowed her to start writing her first play.

Becoming a Writer

Hilary realized that acting roles for women can become less frequent as they get older. She found that being in the theatre, watching plays being created, inspired her to write. She saw how plays were built and how writers worked together. This collaborative process fascinated her, and she decided to start writing herself.

Hilary often uses ideas from her childhood in her work. As a writer, she is especially interested in exploring the lives of Irish women from her generation. She looks at how they tried to overcome traditional limits but sometimes found themselves caught up in family life and financial situations. Her plays are full of interesting ideas.

Plays for the Stage

Mackerel Sky (Bush Theatre, 1997). This play is a comedy about a family facing challenges in a Dublin seaside village. The Brazil family is waiting for people to come and take their home. The mother, Mamie, tries to restart her singing career. The daughters, Stephanie and Madeleine, and their brother, Jack, are all dealing with their own problems. Their grandmother, Tom, is preparing for a stand-off. Set in the 1970s, the play shows a family that refuses to conform.

When it was performed in Ireland in 1999, critics said it showed promise. One review mentioned that Hilary Fannin clearly had a talent for words.

Sleeping Around (Paines Plough, 1998). This play was co-written with Mark Ravenhill, Abi Morgan, and Stephen Greenhorn. It explores the human need to connect with others.

While some British reviews focused on the play's structure, a 2002 production in California received great praise. The LA Times said it explored the characters' emotions and had more humor and energy than other similar plays.

Doldrum Bay (Peacock Theatre, 2003). This play follows four characters who are living privileged but aimless lives. Magda is dealing with her father's illness. Her husband, Francis, has quit his job to write a novel. His friend, Chick, is trying to save his career. Chick's wife, Louise, finds new meaning in an unexpected pregnancy.

Reviews for Doldrum Bay were mixed. Some found it thought-provoking and witty, especially its humor about Ireland's religious past. Others felt it had many ideas but didn't always connect them perfectly. The play also explores male struggles during a time of economic growth in Ireland.

Phaedra (Rough Magic, 2010). This play was a collaboration between Hilary Fannin and composer Ellen Cranitch. It is a modern and witty version of an ancient Greek story by Racine. It is set in a wealthy but cynical Ireland where money is valued more than honesty. Phaedra marries a powerful man for money, but she is truly in love with her stepson, Hippolytus.

The play opened at the Project Arts Centre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival and was widely praised. Critics described the writing as wonderful, funny, and very current. Michael Billington called it a "compelling piece about today’s Ireland," showing how the wealth of the "Celtic Tiger" years was not as strong as it seemed.

The Famished Castle (Rough Magic, 2015). This play tells the story of Nat and Angie, former lovers who meet again at a snowbound airport and briefly restart their relationship. The play looks back at important moments in their past, especially after the economic downturn in Ireland.

Some critics found the play's main characters uninteresting. Others felt the play was not fully developed and sometimes hard to follow, even though the writing was often sharp.

Books and Memoirs

Hilary Fannin's memoir, Hopscotch, was published by Doubleday Ireland in 2015. A memoir is a book where the author writes about their own life experiences. Carlo Gébler, writing in the Irish Times, praised the book for telling a personal story with honesty, understanding, and wit.

In 2020, Doubleday also published her first novel, The Weight of Love.